Behind the March: Don Lemon Hosts CNN Doc on ’63 March

Lemon’s takeaway from doing the special was that people were drawn to the March for one central reason.

“They had passion more than anything else,” Lemon says. “When I asked John Lewis how we could honor him, Lewis said that [back then] we were all galvanized for one cause. And that he doesn’t see that anymore.”

The documentary starts with one young man who started walking to the March from Gadsen, Alabama. Despite the obvious challenges of such a journey the young man told Lemon that what we wore was important.

“For every march, every protest, every sit -in I wore a three piece suit,” he told Lemon. “Because if I went to jail I wanted to go to jail with dignity.”

Lemon says it’s that kind of commitment that influenced his recent conversation about Black America and how he feels young Black men, especially should take heed to their example.

“Those people were about taking care of themselves and pulling themselves up and making sure they had dignity and passion and that they did the right thing and that they were personally responsible for themselves.”